The US Department of Defense has been forced to delete and repost a promotional video about expanded military drone capabilities after Metallica issued a copyright strike over the unauthorized use of their hit, Enter Sandman.
The original video, posted on X, featured Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth outlining President Donald Trump‘s initiative to boost domestic drone production and equip US combat units with new drones.
An instrumental version of Metallica‘s 1991 hit played throughout the video, which included a clip of a quadcopter delivering a memo to Hegseth.
In the video, Hegseth, former Fox News host, said: “We were brought here to rebuild the military… Match capabilities to the threats of today. So while our adversaries have produced millions of cheap drones before us, we were mired in bureaucratic red tape. Not anymore.”
Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson confirmed to Military.com’s Konstantin Toropin that X contacted the department about the copyright violation: “This afternoon, representatives from X reached out to DoD regarding a video posted to our social media page and asked that the video be removed due to a copyright issue with the song ‘Enter Sandman’ by Metallica.”
“This afternoon, representatives from X reached out to DoD regarding a video posted to our social media page and asked that the video be removed due to a copyright issue with the song ‘Enter Sandman’ by Metallica.”
Kingsley Wilson, Pentagon
“The video has been taken down, corrected, and re-uploaded to our page.”
Under X’s Copyright Policy, the platform says: “X will respond to reports of alleged copyright infringement, such as… allegations concerning the unauthorized use of a copyrighted video or image uploaded through our media hosting services, or posts containing links to allegedly infringing materials.”
A Metallica representative told Rolling Stone that the band had not authorized the use of their music.
The development comes a month after a judge temporarily froze all legal proceedings between X and a number of music publishers including Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, and Warner Chappell Music. The publishers sued X, formerly Twitter, in June 2023, alleging “rampant infringement of copyrighted music.”
The latest court order gives a 90-day pause to both parties as they try to settle the dispute outside of court.
Metallica’s copyright strike reflects the band’s approach to protecting their IP. In 2000, Metallica sued Napster over copyright infringmenet, seeking a minimum of $10 million in damages, or $100,000 per illegally downloaded song.
Rolling Stone noted that Metallica has had a complicated relationship with the military over the use of their music. During the Iraq War, the band reportedly asked the military to stop using their songs during interrogations. Lars Ulrich, the band’s drummer, told Vulture in 2016 that while such uses made him “squirm,” artists have limited control once their music “goes out into the world.”
Ulrich at the time said: “I’ve had to sit there and answer questions like, ‘How do you feel about the US military using your songs to torture prisoners?’ I mean, as much as that makes me squirm, when you hand those recording master tapes to the FedEx guy and then the music goes out into the world, you’ve gotta let it go. Whether people like it or hate it, you just find a way to deal with it. So if [former House Speaker] Paul Ryan likes Metallica, hallelujah, it’s fine with me.”
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